William Friese-Greene has been credited by some as the inventor of cinematography. If that wasnÂ’t enough, he filed a patent for a 3D movie process in the 1890s, whereby two films were projected side by side on one screen. The viewer had to look through a cumbersome stereoscope headset to converge and align the two images. While this was impractical on a large scale, it was a start.
Frederick Eugene Ives took this idea one step further when he patented a stereo camera rig in 1900. Like a human’s eyes, the camera had two lenses which were coupled together 1 ¾ inches apart to provide a proper dispersion of images which could then be coupled.
In 1922, a now lost film was made entitled ‘The Power of Love’, projected on dual-strip film via a red/green anaglyph format (whereby the viewer would require '3D glasses' to align the colours). This was the first instance of dual-strip film and anaglyph glasses being needed of its kind. The floodgates had opened and public interest was sparked.